You Can Never Go Back
by Slayer Tash
Rating: NC-17
Author's Notes: Set in S3. Buffy never got with Angel when he came back she got with Faith. Enjoy!
This was wrong it had to be! Less than two hours ago we were fighting for our lives against this big ass demon now we are laying here in my bed naked and exhausted. (Not from the fighting though.)
“B does it feel wrong that we are here now this fucking happy when two hours ago we were on the brink of death?”
“Not at all, we escaped death so big happy.”
She is playing with my fingers.
“Hang on did you just say you were happy?”
“So what if I did?”
“Nothing I just didn’t think the almighty Faith did happy.”
“Funny” I say rolling over and grabbing the TV remote and flicking it on.
“Just like guy with the TV too.”
“How would you know, there has been one guy and I am sure Soul Boy did not own a TV.”
“I know things, I watch movies.”
I laugh “I wanna see the news, see if there have been any reports of neck ruptures or anything else that goes bump in the night.”
She straddles me “No TV.”
She grabs the remote and turns the set off.
“Come on B.”
“No TV.” She repeats again.
I grab for the remote but she drops it beside the bed.
“Oops.” She smiles at me and pushes me back on the bed.
I can feel her hot center on my stomach and the 11 o’clock news is quickly forgotten.
The crude ringing of my telephone wakes me up. I open my eyes, it is still dark but both my arms are trapped underneath the blonde slayer who is fast asleep sprawled across my torso.
I try to shake her, which is hard with no hands.
“B” I yell.
“Just ignore it.” She mumbles.
“It could be Giles.”
“Fine.” She pushes herself up and grabs the phone. “What…no it’s Buffy…patrol went longer than expected so I just crashed at Faith’s…yeah we were sleeping. It is what people tend to do at 2 in the morning.” She lays back down phone still in her hand. “Was there a purpose to this phone call or do you normally ring Faith this late?”
I roll onto my side and run my hand over her stomach.
“She is awake yeah…okay hang on.” She hands me the receiver. “He needs to talk to you, it is imperative.”
I smile at her “What’s up G-man?”
“Your father is missing.”
“What?” I sit up.
“Xander called me a little after 11 to tell me he had caught the end of a report about a missing man and he noticed a picture of you up on the screen. I caught the late news just then and the report says your father has been kidnapped.”
“And you want me to do what?”
I feel Buffy move and sit behind me.
“Well the police are trying to reach you to question you to see if you or your brother has had any contact with him in the last week.”
“I haven’t seen him since I was called.”
“Needless to say Faith you have to get in contact with the Boston police.”
I sigh.
“And Faith you could be a target yourself.”
“I doubt that Giles they have my dad what would they want with me?”
“It is better to be safe than sorry Faith. I want you and Buffy at the library at 8 am sharp.”
“On a fucking Saturday that is wrong Giles!”
“Faith please.”
“Alright, alright B and I will be there.”
“Thank you.”
I hang up the phone.
“We have to be at the library at 8” I lean back into Buffy.
Her arms come around me “Who has your dad?”
“Dunno…Giles called to say he is missing and the Boston PD are trying to get hold of me. I was on the news and everything apparently.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“See Giles in the morning call the cops and tell them I haven’t spoken to him in a year.”
“Are you going to call Tim?”
“It is like 4 am B for him, if you think I don’t like being woken up wait till you see the effect it has on my brother.”
“Fai it’s your dad.” She whispers softly into my ear.
“Yeah big fucking deal B” I sit up again.
“I know what happened and how much you don’t like him but you and Tim could be in danger.” She runs her hands up and down my arms trying to calm me.
“Okay” I reach over and grab the phone and dial.
“Hello?” it is answered on the first ring.
“Tim.”
“Faith?”
“Yeah.”
“We have been trying to reach you.”
“Yeah well here I am.”
I can feel B’s soft kisses on my back.
“Faith I need to talk to you about this.”
“What’s stopping you bro?”
“It is 4 am…the bugs are biting.”
“What the fuck are you on about?”
“Can I call you in the morning?”
“Sure, I will give you a number where you can reach me in the morning. Call just after 8 our time.”
“Will do, page me with the number.”
“Jesus what is with the cryptic.”
“Just do it okay shrimp.”
“Fine I don’t wanna argue about it. Will page you” I yawn.
“Okay keep out of trouble.”
I snort “Yeah whatever T” I hang up.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah he is with the fucking cryptic though.”
“You think it could be supernatural.”
I shrug “Don’t give a fuck B.”
She moves and she is straddling me again.
“What is it with you and this position B?” I ran my hands over her back.
“I just wanna talk to you.”
“Sure, talk then” I run my hands up her side.
“I know a bit about your family Faith but not everything…”
“You really wanna talk about this now?”
“Yeah I do, I don’t want to find out when you are telling Giles.”
“Fine, but not in this position, if I have to look at the girls while I am talking I am not gonna make much sense.”
She smiles and moves.
We lay in the bed facing each other. Legs intertwined.
“So what do you know so far?”
“You have a brother Tim who you seem to like a Father who you don’t, no idea about your Mom.”
“Okay we will get her out of the way now. She died two years ago.”
She runs a hand up my arm “I’m sorry baby.”
“Don’t be she wasn’t much of a mom towards the end.”
“How did she die?”
“Drank herself to death.”
“Were they still together?”
“Yeah, they used to be happy too. All four of us did.”
“What changed?”
“Dad got some inheritance money about 5 years ago from some old eccentric Uncle Tim and I saw once a year of that. Dad thought he would invest it try and get Tim and I a college fund. He put part on the stock market part of it into property” I move a little and drape my arm over her waist. “He hit the jackpot with a stock and within a few months we were literally rolling in it. He sold of a majority of it and began investing in more property. Within in a year he had his own company, I have no idea on how it works but soon we were moving out of our crappy three-bedroom home into some mother fucking mansion, where my room was the size of the old place. Tim began working for him and going to college part time to major in some business thing.”
“How old were you?”
“Just turned 12.” She was trying to do the math in her head “17 B, I am 17.”
She smiles “I know that.”
“Anyway he is home less and less. Time is taken up with business meetings and trips to seek out new investment opportunities. Mom starts drinking and I kind of get forgotten about. When she does remember I am there I kind of get yelled at or belted.”
She is doing the comfort rub up my arm again man I love this girl.
“She was always too drunk to hurt though. I began hanging with the wrong crowd, hence the lovely leather addiction I have now.”
She smiles.
“I remember the day I was called…I should it wasn’t that long ago. It was the 2 year anniversary of mom’s death. I was at her grave when my watcher stopped me and spouted the crap I am sure you got from Giles.”
“Giles wasn’t my first watcher.”
“Right” I remember her first watcher was killed just like mine “I remember you telling me.”
I see tears form in her eyes so I quickly keep talking.
“I thought she was fucking mental, I told her to fuck off and leave me alone. I left her standing by mom’s grave by the time I got home she was there. I let her talk and she told me about you and how you had fought the big bad and won many times. Anyways Tim and dad both overhear all of this and they think she is crazy. I stick up for her and he kicks me out telling me I was just stupid drunk like my mother that only a crazy drunk person could believe the crap she was spurting out. So I left with her that day. I think Tim feels kind of guilty about that though. We have spoken a few times over the last couple of months and he sends me money every week more than I will ever need. He is just like dad in a lot of ways. Thinks money will solve everything.”
“I have to ask if he sends you plenty of money why this place?”
“I just need a bed B.”
“Yeah but you could have a nicer bed one without piss and cum stains.”
“Did you just say cum?” I laugh.
She pushes my shoulder “Shut up.”
“The fresher stains I am sure are yours.”
I earn another push.
“Nothing I ever did seemed good enough for him. The money was a fucking curse. I liked it better when we struggled from paycheck to paycheck. Dad was home every night telling us stories and mucking around with us in the back yard. Mom didn’t drink and was just a normal mom you know…we were a happy normal family…didn’t have anything but each other sort of thing.”
“Sounds like my dad, tell me more.”
“Every night Tim and I would sit on the front porch steps waiting for him. We could hear his car coming up the street blocks away. He would climb out of the car covered in grease but we didn’t care we would run up and hug him…he would chase us around till mom called us in for dinner. He would walk in and threaten to grab her with his greasy hands and she would say ‘Don’t you dare Russell Arthur Matthews, you march yourself straight into the bathroom and wash up for dinner.’ Then she would look down at Tim and I and send us off after him. She always had a smile on her face though, she wasn’t mad about it at all. After dinner he would always ask us how school was and check our homework if we ever had any. I remember the first night he didn’t come home. I sat on the steps till after 9, refusing to move no matter what punishment mom threatened to dish out.”
I closed my eyes as I yawned.
“One night turned into 2 then 3 and so on. After about a fortnight of waiting I gave up, then one night he bursts in and says ‘Sandra, Tim, Faith pack up your things we are moving’ he took us to see our new house. At the time I thought it was cool. We had a pool and a tennis court and dad told me I could get my very own horse for the stables. I even changed schools. I got stuck in some posh girls school. I had to wear a fucking tartan skirt and knee high socks.”
She laughs, “I would pay to see a photo.”
“There is not enough money in the world to cover the cost!”
“Maybe I can pay you in kisses.” She leans in and our lips touch softly.
“Not enough kisses in the world” I say softly kissing her again “How about you just keep kissing me and I will tell you when enough is enough okay.”
“Okay.” She smiles and kisses me again.
When we get to the library the next morning we are greeted by Xander and Red both happily munching on doughnuts.
“Hey guys” I say grabbing a jelly one for me and B.
“Hey” Willow says softly.
“So you are the heir to a multi million dollar fortune, sure you haven’t locked your dad up for insurance money” Xander said.
“If that was a joke it isn’t funny” B says.
I fill Giles in and let him know about my phone call with Tim and they kind of just sit around waiting for the phone to ring. While I pace.
“Faith” Buffy calls me over “You might wanna see this.”
She had been reading the paper.
I went over and stood over her “No fucking way” I say grabbing it.
“That’s the picture you don’t want me to see isn’t it?” She is grinning like the fucking Cheshire cat “You had field hockey knees!”
“Show me” Xander came over and tried to grab the paper.
“Fuck off” I hold it close to my chest.
“That isn’t going to deter me from trying to grab it.”
“Maybe this will” Buffy says standing between us holding up her fist.
“B chill.” The Scoobies didn’t know about us yet and I am sure her beating the crap out of Xander in a jealous rage wasn’t the way to tell them.
He steps back.
“So you have a brother” Red says.
“Yeah Tim, he is gonna call soon” I sit down at the table.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” She asked.
“Tell you what?”
“About the money.”
“Why would it make you like me better?”
“I-I- don’t mean it like that.”
“Well what Red? It’s not like it comes up in conversation is it. 'Oh B killed this vamp last night who had almost as much money as what my dad does'” I say sarcastically.
I feel a hand on my shoulder “What was that you were saying about chilling” Buffy says.
The phone rings and I run into Giles’ office and grab it.
“Hello.”
“Faith it’s me can you talk?”
“No I answered for the fucking hell of it.”
“How are you?”
“Five by five.”
“I never got that.”
“Yeah well you don’t need to, what was with the fucking cryptic last night?”
“FBI have the home and office phones being tapped in case we get a ransom call, I couldn’t talk to you about the boogedy woogety with them about now could I.”
“Boogedy woogety?”
“You know all that crap that woman was crapping on about the day you left.”
“Oh okay, so spill.”
“Some guys came to see dad a few weeks ago said they wanted revenge on us because of what his daughter did to his boss. Dad explained that he had nothing to do with you anymore and they said they didn’t care that he was going to pay for what you did to Kakistos.”
“Not him again” I groan internally.
“Well apparently he is dead, you killed a man Faith!”
“He was a vampire you fool and he killed my watcher and almost killed me.”
“Whatever anyway they kept threatening us and dad asked how much it would cost for them to just piss off and leave us alone. They said it was too late that he had insulted them and that they would get their revenge another way. That is when he gets snatched.”
“Uh huh and you couldn’t tell me that this morning why?”
“Because I have gotten a ransom note, it says that if I don’t come up with 15 million bucks they are gonna turn him and set him loose to come and get his daughter the slayer.”
“Oh fucking brilliant.”
B is standing next to me “Everything ok?”
I shake my head “How long have you got to get them the money?”
“Monday night. I have to call them and organize a rendezvous point.”
“Okay what do you want me to do, he wants nothing to do with me.”
“I thought if you really are the slayer I can bring you along to the meeting you can kill these guys and we get dad back and no money is lost.”
“You have watched too many fucking movies Tim.”
“Faith are you telling me you aren’t what they say you are?”
“What who say I am?”
“The guys that have dad. They say they are vampires and that you are the slayer.”
I sigh “Yeah I am.”
“That woman wasn’t crazy?”
“No.”
“So can you come?”
“To Boston?”
“No never never land yes Boston you twit.”
“Hang on a sec” I put the phone down and turn to Buffy “They want me to go to Boston.”
“Who has your dad?”
“Some of Kakistos’ guys, they want revenge on me for staking him so they are holding my dad for ransom. If Tim doesn’t pay they are gonna turn him and set him loose to kill me.”
“Holy Shit.”
“That isn’t the fucked up part. Tim wants me to go to the organized meeting and kill the fuckers before the exchange of money goes ahead and we get dad back and keep the money.”
“When do we fly out?”
“What do you mean we?”
“I am not letting you go by yourself.”
“This is my mess I don’t wanna drag any of you guys into this.”
“Hey you are part of my life and I am part of yours, my messes are your messes and vice versa. No arguments you are not going there without me.”
“Should we tell Giles first?”
“Giles Faith and I are going to Boston.” She yells out.
“I could have done that B” I say picking up the phone. “Okay Tim count me in but I am gonna need 6 tickets.”
“Why 6?”
“Just book 6 tickets, Business class” Buffy won't forgive me if I leave Red, Xander, Giles and Joyce behind without slayer protection.
“Sure can I call you back on this number with the flight details?”
“Yeah sure can make it quick I don’t wanna be hanging around this fucking place all day.”
“Okay give me 20 minutes I will see what I can do.”
I hang up “He is gonna call us in 20 minutes with flight details.”
“You okay?” She wraps her arms around me.
I rest my forehead on her shoulder “I don’t know if I am ready to go back.”
“No time to worry about that, and if anything does go wrong I am gonna be there.”
“You know you don’t have to do this.”
“Yeah I do.” She kisses my ear.
I look at her and rest my forehead on hers “Thank you.”
“Thank you for trusting me.”
“With my heart B.”
She smiles and I close the gap between us and we kiss slowly.
“Buffy I think we need to – oh dear I am sorry.”
Giles almost falls over as we break our kiss and look at him.
“It’s cool G-man, B and I are a thing.”
“So I see, Buffy do you think it is wise to be going to Boston, what will your mother say?”
“It is work related I have to go Giles.”
“Work related how so?”
I explain to him the whole deal and how my brother wants me to be all superhero and save the day and the money.
“How will you know if they haven’t already turned him?”
“We don’t but if he does we stake him.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that Giles…he will be a vamp and my job description is to kill them. And before you go all but he is your father, I hated my dad long before this happened.”
“Okay I am still wary about the both of you going, who is going to patrol here?”
“It has been kind of quiet Giles. I am sure the Hellmouth could do without us for a couple of nights” I wait for her to bring up Angel, he has been back a while now. I am sure she is gonna ask him to cover while we are away.
“I don’t think so Buffy, I can’t allow you to go.”
“Stiff shit Giles” she yells “I am not letting my girlfriend go off and fight a whole bunch of vamps by herself.”
“She did alright before she came to Sunnydale.”
“Yeah before Sunnydale, before I fell in love with her. I am going and that is the end of the argument.” She folds her arms and gives him a look that rival’s Red’s resolve face.
“Oh er um okay then.” He says taking of his glasses and cleaning them.
“Don’t forget that Giles is coming B.”
“I am?”
“Yeah well I asked for a ticket for all of us including Joyce. If we can’t patrol to protect you guys then you are gonna come with us, plus can’t avert a crisis without the Scoobies.”
Buffy smiles at me.
We go out and explain everything to the Scoobies. Buffy begins rambling and lets slip about our relationship. Once the bumbling has finished the room is silent. A pin dropping would deafen us.
“Uh B, info overload” I say.
“What?”
“You and Faith?” Xander said.
“What about us?”
“You are a couple?”
“Who told you?” She looks shocked.
“B you just did…amongst all that babble you said that you and I were getting physical.”
“Physical?” Xander says.
I look at him and he has gone from normal Xander colour to a bright reddish colour and is squirming in his chair.
“Just get a visual did ya?” I smirk at him.
“Uh I hmmmm.” He gets up and runs out.
I look at B and the look I am getting isn’t one of appreciation or happiness.
“What?” I ask innocently maybe even pouting a little knowing she can't resist my bottom lip.
“You are unbelievable you know that right?”
“Yeah but you still love me right?” I do a little eyelash batting and give her my best ‘Faith is adorable you can't help but love her’ smile.
She shakes her head with a small grin on her face “Yep unbelievable.” She says quietly.
So here we are Joyce, Giles, Xander, Red, B and me all sitting in business class like our shit don’t stink. Granted we look like we don’t belong but we are in the biggest comfiest seats getting waited on hand and foot while all the other plebs have tiny seats and are getting a microwaved plate of crap with a side of spew. Our trays have just been taken away and the lights dimmed.
Buffy gives me a soft kiss and rests her head on my shoulder “That was delicious.”
“The kiss or the chicken?”
She looks up at me and smiles “Both actually.”
“How delicious?” I say kissing her softly.
“So delicious that I could just eat it forever.” We kiss again.
“The kiss or the chicken?” I say again.
“The kiss” she smiles and we kiss again “But you already knew that didn’t you?”
I answer her with yet another kiss, this time I deepen it so our tongues softly play.
I gently break it “You are right that chicken did taste good” I couldn’t resist the joke was begging to be done.
She laughs and snuggles into me. I wrap my arm around her and decide to see who else was up here in hoity toighty land with us and a steely gaze courtesy of Red greets me.
“Heya Red” I smile.
“Hurt her and I will kill you.” Resolve face…man don’t wanna fuck with that.
“She is safe with me, cross my heart Red.”
“Resolve face, learn it…you don’t ever wanna see it again.”
“I-I Okay Red” I stutter she has me a little freaked out, I never stutter.
She turns back to her movie or book or whatever she was doing before the little hurt my best friend and I will kill you speech.
I feel Buffy laughing against me “Has little ole Willow got big bad Faith scared?”
“Very funny B.”
“Awww relax baby” she rubs her hand over my belly.
I turn and face her “Thanks for doing this, thanks for coming and sticking by me.”
“Hey you are my girl and I would do anything for my girl okay.”
“Okay…it’s just that this is all new to me. I shut myself off a long time ago B so to open up like this isn’t easy. I might mess things up or say stuff the wrong way or not say it when I have the chance to so when I do have the chance I think I better say it cause I don’t wanna fuck this up. I trust you…I haven’t trusted any one in a long time.”
“I know and that means so much to me.” She has tears in her eyes now.
“Aw B don’t fucken cry.”
She laughs the tears off then stops and says “Anything, you can come to me with anything Faith. I trust you and I love you and no matter what is happening no matter how fucked up our world gets I believe in that and in you.” She places a hand on my face.
I can feel myself getting choked up man this woman has a powerful effect on me.
I manage a nod cause if I talk I am gonna cry. Faith Matthews reduced to tears how fucked up is that.
We arrive in Boston late Saturday night, early Sunday morning for them. Tim is waiting towards the back of the crowd for us. I stop as we reach him.
“Hey” I say.
He grabs me and hugs me “God I have missed you Pooch.”
I pull away from him.
“Did he just say Pooch?” I hear Xander ask Red.
I look at them both and give them a look and the grins they had on their faces disappear quickly.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Okay.”
I look around us and see 5 Sunnydaler’s looking around uncomfortably. Introductions got under way.
“Tim I want you to meet the crew. This is Xander and Willow they are Buffy’s best friends. This is Joyce Buffy’s mom and this is Giles our watcher” I reach out and take Buffy’s hand. “This is Buffy, she is a slayer like me…and is my girlfriend” I say the last part a little softer.
“She is your girlfriend!” He says much louder.
“Yeah thanks Tim, saves me broadcasting now” I say as people walk past looking at us.
"Sorry, it is just a shock. Especially after all the guys you used to-"
“Tim shut up!” I say quickly.
“Ah we don’t have any luggage just our carry on’s so we don’t have to hang around here” Buffy says.
“Okay I have a car waiting follow me.”
So we all file out behind him.
“About all of those guys” Buffy says teasing me.
I shoot her a look.
“Ah never mind” she says letting go of my hand and running to catch up with Red.
We reach our vehicle, a big fucking black limo. I shake my head typical Tim I think to myself.
Xander and Red can't seem to hide their enthusiasm and as soon as we are on the road the sunroof is open and they are standing up enjoying the view.
“Everything okay?” Joyce asks me, she is to my left her daughter to my right.
“Not sure about being back.” When did I become so open and honest?
“Going home the first time is always awkward.” She smiles at me.
“You are one cool chick you that Joyce” I say.
“Thanks Faith.” She squeezes my hand.
I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. I don’t know why I feel so tired.
“You okay?” I hear Buffy whisper in my ear.
I rest my head on her shoulder “Sleepy” I say.
“You feel warm.”
“You get me hot” I whisper.
“I am serious Fai.”
“I am fine B, just tired…haven’t slept much since I heard.”
“How far from here to your place?”
“Maybe 45 minutes.”
“Well go to sleep, if I can't wake you up when we arrive I will carry you inside.”
“Thanks B” I mumble snuggling in closer to her and letting the sleep take me over.
I feel someone gently running a hand over my back I slowly open my eyes and see B laying across from me.
“Morning.” She smiles.
“Hey” I mumble snuggling deeper into my pillow.
“Tim says we have to be careful what we say around the house.”
“Mmmm.”
“By the way this place is amazing.”
“I guess.”
“You really aren’t happy to be home.”
“I have been asleep for the whole time” I snap.
“Well something is obviously up your ass.” She sits up.
“B I hate the guy why are we even here?”
“Family.”
“Funny fucking family” I say pulling her back down next to me “A father who thinks I am a fucking drunk crazy bitch and a brother who is like a mini version of him.”
“I dunno I talked to him last night after I tucked you in. He seems to really miss you.”
“You tucked me in?”
“I didn’t have a choice really. You were out of it in the car and I got you out. Tim tried to take you to put you into your bed but you refused to let go of me. You even were mumbling in your sleep.”
“I did…what did I say?”
“Nothing coherent.” She grins.
“What did I say?”
“When he tried to take you, you told him to ‘fuck off mother fucker’ and then said ‘this is my girl you try anything I’ll break your fucking neck.’ All of which my mother heard.”
“Oh man!”
“She thought it was sweet!”
“Your Mom is ace B.”
“I know, Tim wanted to see you as soon as you were up.”
“I want to shower and change first.”
“Okay I will see you downstairs then.”
“I never said anything about showering alone” I grin at her.
“You can think of sex at a time like this?”
“You obviously under estimate me B” I lean over her.
“Faith I could never under estimate you.”
“How about you just undress me.”
“Miss Faith breakfast is ready.” Our butler James says as I walk into the kitchen. Yep we have a butler. He is wicked cool though, cause dad worked a lot Jim and I hung out a bit we played poker, drank, smoke it was fun.
“Thanks Jim” I smile at him.
“Good to have you back Miss Faith” he says holding the chair out for me.
“Cut the Miss Faith crap Jim we both know I am no Miss” I smile at him as I sit down.
“Where is Buffy?” Joyce asks as I pour juice.
“I think she is still in the bathroom.”
“That girl could live in the bathroom.”
“Tell me about it” I laugh “This one night she was in the bathroom for over an hour and she was just getting ready for patrol, she wanted to shower cause we had just” I stop short realizing what I am about to admit to her mother.
“You had just what?” Willow asks with a sly look on her face.
“Trained, I told her not to bother about it cause we were only gonna get dirtier during the night.”
“Dirtier huh” Xander is smiling now.
God damn it Faith stop talking so much.
“Leave her alone” Buffy says walking in.
“Oh come on Buff those little blushes are just adorable” Xander says.
“I do NOT blush” I huff.
“Really, what colour is red?” Red says.
“Jim is Timothy up yet?” I ask.
“Master Timothy went into the office early.”
“On a Sunday?”
“I think his exact words were an Empire doesn’t run itself.”
I get up from the table “Jesus he really is a chip off the old block, we are meant to be getting this shit sorted out.”
“He told me to tell you if you need to see him your car is in the garage you are more than welcome to go to the office and see him.”
“Keys in the usual place?”
He threw them at me “She is ready to go.”
“Thanks Jim, guys I will be back shortly” I say to the others who are up to their armpits in waffles and bacon.
“I’ll come” Buffy says starting to get up.
“No you stay here B, eat breakfast. I need to talk to Tim about a few things.”
She looks hurt.
“Don’t give me that look” I say.
She is pouting now.
“B come on how old are you?”
She looks down at her plate.
“I will be back soon and we can get started. I can get details on where we are meeting we can scope the site out do some research” I rush out of the dining room and through to the garage.
There she is my baby is right in front of me. Black Mazda MX5 with all the bells and whistles. CD player, leather seats, cup holders. Fuck I missed this car!
I still remember what Dad said to me when he gave me the keys.
‘I saw it and it reminded me of you. A bit of grunt in the engine, all dark and black on the outside soft and full of extras on the inside.’
It was as sweet as my Dad got these days. Wasn’t the horse he promised me he gave me horsepower instead.
I unlock her and slide in.
“Hey gorgeous I’m back” I say starting her up.
I grab the remote for the garage door and open it just as Guns and Roses blasts out of the stereo.
“Fuck yeah” I say as I scream out of the garage and down the drive towards the gates. My sunnies are in the same place I grab them and slip them on. As I reach the gate I notice there is a group of people camping near the gate. As I get closer I notice they are reporters.
“Shit” I slow down a bit and press the button to put the top up and get the windows up.
They see the gates open and my car approaching they all get up like a pack of fucking vultures circling a corpse in the middle of the fucking desert.
I rev my engine stating my intentions to gun it out the gates but the friggen morons just stand in the way. I shoot forward a bit and a couple jump out of the way.
“We just want a comment Faith” they call out cameras are up against my windows I can see flashes going off. How the fuck did they know I was back?
I let my window down a bit and give the first reporter who sticks his face and camera in the way the bird and peel off down the street.
As I drive through the streets on my way to the office I think back to our little place in the slums of south Boston. I wanna take B there this afternoon just to show her how normal I am, where I came from. Walk down to the park at the end of the street or even the quarry where we used to swim. I dunno why but I feel the need to share everything I was before she was part of my life with her. I know all about her life before Sunnydale and she knows jack squat about me.
When my dad ripped us out of Normalsville into Asshole World everything for me changed. My friends wouldn’t talk to me and the bitches at the new school weren’t people I really wanted to get to know in any way. I ended up dropping out and started going back to the old neighbourhood but it wasn’t the same. They seemed to think the money changed me that I was a prissy ass fucked up snob like the rest of them. Not good enough for either one of the groups.
That’s when I learnt what fucks kids could be. I figured you could only ever rely on yourself so I guess that is when I put up 'walls' as B refers to. I would spend my days sleeping and nights drinking going to clubs bringing guys home and fucking them senseless. Dad was never home so he never saw it but Tim did but because he was dickwad in training he never said a thing.
Jim was cool though some nights he would talk me into staying home. We would have a couple of beers play a bit of poker. Just talk about the world and shit.
As I reach Dad’s building in the city I notice more fucking reporters camped at the parking entrance.
I keep driving in not even stopping they didn’t even really seem that interested in me anyway. Guess they didn’t recognize the car.
I park next to Tim’s Rover lock up my girl and head inside.
I head up to the 21st floor listening the crap music. Green fucking sleeves. I thought only Ice Cream vans played this shit. By the time I reach the floor I am sure my brain is dribbling out my ear.
I step of the elevator and look around. Nothing had changed the only difference was the lack of people.
I head towards Dad’s office.
“Can I help you miss?” Comes from behind.
I turn and see Ernie he had been head of security here for years.
“Hey Ernie long time” I say.
“Faithie?”
“Yep! How the fuck are you?”
He comes over and hugs me “Not bad, haven’t seen you in months.”
“Yeah well what can I say been on the other side of the country.”
“Doing what?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” I smile at him.
“I work for your father Faith it is amazing at what I would believe and what I wouldn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I hear that vampires have taken him and you are some type of slayer.”
“You heard that? From who?”
“Timmy.”
“Uh huh, speaking of him where is he?”
“Russell’s office.”
“Thanks Ernie.”
I head off in that direction, the whole way there I can’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.
The door is open and I see Tim working on a PC.
“Hey Bro.”
He looks up “Faith hey, James give you the message.”
“Obviously” I flop into the chair across from him.
“I have to do a package for stock holders, since Dad got taken there has been panic and the stocks have taken a bit of a dive. They need to know that everything here is running smoothly and that there is no need to panic.”
“Yeah what could be worse for Dad being held against his will being threatened with death or his company’s stock price going down the crapper” I say sarcastically.
“What do you suggest I do Faith?”
“I dunno Tim, I honestly don’t give a fuck.”
“How can you say that? He is our dad.”
“When was the last fucking time he gave a shit? He told me to get the fuck out of his house and never come back.”
“Well he did have reason not to believe you.”
“Oh here we go again, come on lay your self sacrificing bullshit on me Tim, how I never tried, how I never gave a fucking damn.”
He sighs and looks at me “I don’t want to go over this.”
“Yeah well me either. I just wanna know the details on tomorrow and get started on a plan of some sort.”
He slides a big yellow envelope over the desk to me.
“Was sitting on the desk this morning when I got here. It has instructions on where we meet, what time even the details about how the money must be.”
“15 mill is 15 mill for fucks sake.”
“Yeah try telling them that, they are fucking insane.”
“Yeah well they are dead, don’t have souls. They don’t tend to have a lot of sane Tim.”
I stand up.
“Where are you going?”
“Home, get this to the gang.”
“Why did you bring them?”
“Why do you care?”
He sits back in his chair “I don’t really I was just curious.”
I snort at him “Dad would be so proud of you.”
“What does that mean?”
“You went to college Tim you figure it out…by the way pull the stake out of your ass it may come in handy tomorrow night.” With that I turn around and walk out.
Giles, Red and Buffy stand huddled together looking over the contents of the envelope.
“If it is okay with you guys, I might take B to see this quarry they want to meet at.”
Buffy looks up at me “Isn’t that risky?”
“Middle of the day I doubt they are gonna do anything unless the plan is to burst into flames.”
“I don’t know, Giles?”
I don’t want to beg my reputation has already been shot to shit I don’t want to make it any worse.
“I don’t know. It can’t hurt to know the area a little.”
I smile at B but she looks back down “Do you really need me?”
I frown “Of course I do, you did come here to help with the fight didn’t you?”
“Yeah I came for the fight.” She says.
“I know the quarry like the back of my hand G. I used to go there all the time, swam in the lake nearly everyday during summer holidays. If B doesn’t want to come I can map it out for you guys it is no big deal. I just wanna check it out to be safe”
“Whatever you think is okay with me Faith. This is your turf so to speak we are just here as back up.”
“Thanks Giles. It is about a 30-minute drive from here. I have to go through the old neighbourhood and go down the coast a bit.”
I am hoping Buffy looks up so I can plead with her to come. I don’t want to flat out ask her in front of everyone cause I am gonna have to explain it and I am tired of being open girl with them all.
“The old neighbourhood?” Xander asks.
“Yeah I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
“Didn’t know…you aren’t exactly little miss front and center with details.”
“Whatever, Giles I will be back later.”
“Be careful.” He says.
“Like you guys care” I say softly on my way out.
I took my time driving down there. I drove by the old house and the park but didn’t stop. The quarry hadn’t changed a bit everything was the same from the last time I was there. I climbed up and sat in what I liked to think was my spot. I would come up here and just stay for hours. It was so peaceful and calming, I kind of missed it.
Buffy’s head came up over the ledge and almost scared me to death.
“Jesus B what the fuck are you doing?” I reach out and help her up the last bit.
“You have been gone for hours, I was getting worried.”
“This is my turf I know what I am doing.”
“Tim dropped me off I hope that is okay.”
“Yeah it’s fine.”
She sits beside me and looks out “Pretty amazing from up here hey.”
“I guess.”
“What’s wrong?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well this morning and then when you got back you just seem really distant.”
“When this morning cause I don’t remember being too distant in the shower B.”
“Going to see Tim by yourself.”
“I had to see him by myself, I had things I wanted to say that I didn’t want you guys to hear.”
“Why aren’t you happy to be here?”
“This is where my world got torn apart B, where one day I was comfortable and the next day I was a fish out of water. Do you know what it is like to be told it isn’t okay to be you?”
“Yeah I kind of know that feeling.”
“Stupid question really, sorry.”
“I like you for you.”
“B you like everybody.”
“No I don’t, not a big fan of your dad.”
“Really, Why?”
“He hurt you. You are a beautiful person Faith and your own father couldn’t see that. He is a fucking moron in my book.”
I smile a little.
“I also kind of like him too, I mean if he didn’t kick you out I would have never had gotten to meet you.” She takes my hand and laces her fingers between mine.
“B, you sometimes are too sweet for your own good you know.”
“Yeah but you still love me right?”
“Yep a whole bunch.”
“This is the Faith I know and love” Xander says over the thumping bass.
B shoots him a look.
“Not that kind of love.” He backs off a bit.
I grin at him and continue dancing along to the beat “You are such a pushover X-Man” I gently shove him.
“Hey when it comes to the loss of body parts I am all in favour of keeping them. I do what I have to you know.”
“Pushover, look it up there is a picture of you!”
“I resent that.” He smiles at me.
“I am sure you do.”
B grabs my hands and averts my attention from Xander to her.
“Wanna give them a heart attack?” I wiggle my eyebrows at her.
“If it means dancing within inches of you I am up for it.” She leans into me.
I put my hands on her hips “Let's do it babe!”
I have a thigh between hers and she has one between mine. I pull her in close to me. I plan on teasing her as well as the rest of them.
We are moving frenetically. I make sure I occasionally move my thigh up and give her a good grind.
She wraps her hands around my neck and our thighs are now rubbing each others center.
“Jesus B, I think I am gonna come right here” I bury my head into her neck.
I can hear her short breaths right next to my ear.
The beat keeps getting faster and faster and soon everything fades around me. All I feel is her between my legs her hot breath on my neck.
She lets out a long slow moan.
I rest my forehead on hers and she looks at me.
“So close.” She breathes.
I am tempted to rip open her jeans and slam two fingers into her and push her over the edge but a hand on my shoulder pulls me back.
“What the fuck” I turn around and come face to face with Tim.
“You need to get home.” He pulls me off the dance floor.
“Why?”
“This isn’t safe.”
“Has something happened?”
“No I just don’t think it is safe for you to be out in public.”
“Hey moron, have you forgotten about the super human strength I have.”
“No, Faith this isn’t proper behavior.”
“And let me guess you are about to give me a lesson on the right and wrong thing.”
“Faith we don’t act like this.”
“Like what Tim? I am having a great time with my friends.”
“You were wrapped around her like some leech.”
“Oh I see what this is about. She is my girlfriend Tim and I know that might be hard for you to understand but couples tend touch each other. Do you have a problem with us both being women?”
“It’s not natural Faith.”
“Really, cause it felt natural in the shower this morning and it felt even more natural this afternoon on the kitchen bench, on the sitting room couch, in my bed…want me to list all the other places we felt natural today?”
I can tell he is about ready to pop.
“You didn’t even bat an eyelid when you came home one night 9 months ago and found me mid orgasm on the stairs thanks to my friend Max. You just walked past us like it was something you saw everyday on your way up to your room and now you have the fucking audacity to come and tell me that dancing is inappropriate.”
"Faith if the press gets hold of this it cou-"
“Tim I don’t give a fuck about the press, I love her and if I want to kiss her or dance with her or even fuck her senseless I will.”
I watch the vein in the side of his neck it has slowly gotten bigger the longer this conversation has gone. I want to see if I can make it pop.
"What is it Tim are you jealous cause you can’t get a woman like Buffy. Firm pert breasts, lips that just beg to be kissed, a wet hot pus-"
“That’s enough!” he storms off from me.
“Oh god there is no part of that I didn’t enjoy” I turn and make my way back to the dance floor.
“Everything okay?” Buffy asks.
“Yeah Preacher Tim was trying to stop me from repenting.”
“Okay you are gonna have to explain.”
“Later I promise, right now I wanna dance” I grab her hips again and we begin moving to the beat.
I am resting against the wall next to my door, B is pushed up against me and kissing me furiously. It had started out as a goodnight kiss but I think our pent up energy from earlier in the night got the better of us. Her hands were wandering up my thighs playing with the hem of the skirt I had worn. My hands were up her top kneading the flesh on her sides and occasionally flicking her nipples with my thumbs. I felt a hand on the inside of my thigh inching its way up painfully slowly, teasing me.
The sound of laughing coming up the hallway stopped the smutty make out session.
“Fuck me.” She breathes resting her head on my shoulder.
“I am trying believe me” I say moving my hands to rest on the small of her back.
“Ah Buffy I trust you enjoyed the nights activities” Giles says.
“Yeah we did thanks Giles.”
Joyce is standing beside him.
“What did you two get up to?” I smile at her.
“We tried that restaurant you suggested, it was spectacular.”
“Did you try the Butter chicken?”
“I did, it was extraordinary” Giles said taking his glasses off and cleaning them.
“Well we were off to bed, I guess we will see you in the morning” Buffy says taking my hand and opening my door.
“Buffy isn’t your room back that way?” Joyce says pointing back from where they came.
“I was just going to tuck her in.” She pouts a little.
“Faith is a big girl now Buffy I don’t think she needs tucking in.”
Giles is turning a great shade or red and Joyce has a face on her now that rival’s Red’s resolve face.
“Mom come on.”
“Buffy Anne Summers don’t make me mad.”
“Alright!” She drops my hand to raise hers in the air.
“Night B” I say leaning in and kissing her cheek.
“See you in half an hour lover.” She captures my lips and we kiss briefly.
“Night G-man, Joyce” I walk into my room and shut the door. I rest back against trying to compose myself.
“Mom I can’t believe you” I hear Buffy say.
“Buffy I talked to you before we left do you want me to remind you about it here in front of Mr Giles?”
“You have no problem when we are at home.”
“Ah I don’t think I need to be here for this” Giles is spluttering.
“You don’t need to go anywhere cause I am leaving” Buffy says. God she sounds so angry and I can hear footsteps stomping away.
“Did I just do the wrong thing?” Joyce asks Giles.
“It really isn’t my place to say Joyce.”
“I just feel so hypocritical Rupert, I mean we are heading to your room to do pretty much exactly the same thing.”
OH NO FUCKING WAY!
“Well not exactly the same thing.”
“I adore Faith and I have no problems with their relationship anyone can see how much they love each other I just feel funny about it in this house. I don’t want Tim thinking that I just let them do anything.”
“Joyce they are both responsible young women I am sure you have nothing to worry about.”
“A hundred bucks says that within half an hour they are in the same bed doing what you and I should be doing right now.”
Oh ew mental pictures!
“I’ll take that bet Joyce but instead of a hundred dollars how about if I lose I have t-”
“We will discuss the terms in the bedroom Rupert.”
“Way to go Joyce!” I laugh to myself just like her daughter she goes crazy on the lust.
I wait until I am sure they have left. When I hear a door in the distance close I am out of my room and in B’s in a flash.
I find her lying on her bed her hand releasing some of the before mentioned tension.
“You didn’t even wait for me!” I say closing the door gently.
She smiles at me and I saunter over to the bed.
“You thinking of me, imagining they are my fingers?”
She closes her eyes “God Faith, I love it when you do this.”
“I love walking into a room and seeing this.”
Her fingers are still moving I kneel on the end of the bed and make my way slowly up. I reach her and pull her pants down over her hips I watch her work as I remove the pants all the way.
I place my thigh between her legs and push it against her hand.
“Oh god.” She moans.
I begin moving with the rhythm she has started. I lean over her “Look at me B.”
She opens her eyes slowly.
“Does it feel good?”
“Yes.”
“Do you wish it was me inside you?”
“Yeah.” She whimpers.
“Are you wet?” I know she is but I love hearing her say it.
“Yes, it’s dripping down my hand.”
I move my thigh away and she moans “Faith no.”
“Relax B, I have a plan” I grin at her.
I take her hand away and replace it with mine I slide my fingers deep inside her.
“You weren’t kidding B.”
She bucks her hips up at me “Faster.”
“Anything you say.”
I accommodate her and her eyes slide shut again and she is biting her bottom lip. I lead the hand she had inside her up to my mouth, I gently lick her palm and I can taste her. I take long licks and begin sucking her juices off her hand.
“Faith, my clit.”
“Have patience.”
“Fuck me!” She growls.
As I suck her fingers I run my thumb over her hard nub.
“Oh yeah baby that’s it” I feel her buck again.
I do it again and again and each time she slips a little closer to the edge.
“Do you know how sweet you taste baby” I say leaning right over her.
“Not…as Oh Faith!” She says as I sweep over her clit again.
I kiss her, snaking my tongue into her mouth. She breaks away from the kiss and throws her head backwards.
“God Fai I am so close, take me over please.”
I curl my fingers and my thumb attacks her clit once, twice three times.
“Fai, yeah oh fuck yeah Fai ohmyfuckinglordthatsitbabyfuckmefuckmefuckme.”
She keeps riding my hand as she twitches her orgasm slowly subsiding.
“Babyamazinggodsoamazingyourfingersfuckingrule.” She moans softly.
I gently stop “You okay B?”
She nods sighing a little.
I kiss her lips softly and lay beside her. I move my hand and place my thigh between her legs again.
“Mom is so going to kill me” she turns her head and smiles at me.
“I think that is the last thing on her mind right now.”
“What do you mean?”
I run a hand up her back “Your Mom and Giles.”
“What?”
“She bet him a hundred bucks that within half an hour we would be in bed doing what they should be doing.”
“Sleeping please let it be sleeping!”
“Baby you know you aren’t going to be sleeping for a while.”
“Actually after that mental image I think I am scarred for life.”
I chuckle “Come on B, it’s not such a bad thing now is it?”
“Stop it, stop talking about it.” She sits up.
“Relax” I sit up and kiss her arm a few times.
“This isn’t some sick joke is it?”
I shake my head. “I went into my room and I heard you yell at your Mom then storm off, I then heard her tell Giles she felt like a Hypocrite.”
“My Mom and Giles!”
“Come on B, it makes sense. Remember they hooked up when they ate that candy crap.”
“Yeah and I still dealing with the aftermath of those images.”
She climbs off the bed and grabs her pj pants out of her case and slips them on. She takes off her top and replaces that with her pj top.
“Your Mom could do worse B.”
“Like who my dad?” She snaps at me.
“Whoa back up B, I said noting about your dad” I stand up.
“I know what you are thinking Faith.”
“Really? Enlighten me.”
“I don’t want to fight about this.”
“Neither do I!”
She pulls the covers back on her bed “I just want to sleep.”
“Whatever” I walk out of her room slamming the door.
As I head to my room I see Tim.
“Lovers tiff?”
“Eat me Tim” I walk past him and head downstairs into the kitchen. James is sitting at the kitchen bench with a sandwich.
“Hey Jim.”
He smiles at me.
I open the fridge and grab a beer. I open it and take a long swig.
“Something wrong?”
“Buffy” I say sitting across from him.
“Oh you two looked fine when you came in.”
“Yeah well things change quickly with her.”
“How so?”
“Fucked if I know, one minute you are holding a normal conversation the next she is going off at you because when you say something she hears another thing and then she is off on another tangent putting it all out of proportion with her stupid friggen Buffy logic.”
He is sitting there just smiling at me “Sounds like someone else I know.”
“Don’t you dare say me, if you say me I will wipe that stupid looking grin off your face.”
He just sits smiling.
“Quit smiling!”
“It is good to have you back Faith.”
I knock back the rest of my beer “Yeah well it doesn’t feel good to be back.”
Tim puts a briefcase on the table and opens it. It is filled with money.
“Holy shnikies that is what $15 million looks like” Xander says “Can I touch it?”
Tim smiles at him “Go for it.”
“While you guys drool over the money I am gonna be down in the stables.”
“You have horses?” Red asks.
“No, I was gonna see what I can rustle up weapons wise.”
“Oh I will help you if you like.”
“Thanks Red.”
We head out the back.
“My god” Red stops and looks around.
“What?”
“I just haven’t been out here yet, it’s big.”
I am tired with people being so impressed with the house and the money. I keep walking towards the stables.
I find old shovels and put them aside I will get Buffy and Giles to check them over when they get back from the little outing Joyce had taken them on.
“Faith I know this is gonna sound really out of place coming from me cause I said what I had to say on the plane and plus you could kick my ass with pretty much a violent look but if you hurt her I will hunt you down and kill you in every foul disgusting way imaginable.”
I glance at her then continue looking around.
“You have just seemed out of place since we got back and I mean it if you are planning on doing something to her.”
“I am not going to do anything to her Red” I cut her off.
“Well what was with the iciness this morning?”
“You would have to ask Buffy about that.”
“Maybe I will.”
“Okay you do that Red and leave me to sort this fucking mess out.”
“What is that supposed to mean.”
“It means you go running off to Buffy and tell her all the things you hate about me and how I am no good for her and let me just sort this stupid mess I have created out.”
She gives me another evil stare.
“Is this a variation of the so called resolve face I keep hearing about cause I gotta say it's not scaring me.”
“You don’t wanna piss me off Faith.”
“So I keep hearing but have any of you thought about not pissing me off. No I bet you didn’t cause the Scooby gang only looks out for the Scooby gang and fuck anyone else who isn’t pre approved by you or Xander.”
“You can't get rid of us Faith, we were here long before you and we will be here after you.”
“That’s the thing I don’t want to get rid of you. I just wanted to be part of the group, instead I get told to toe the line watch out or I am gonna get my ass kicked. Well go ahead Red kick my ass teach me my fucking lesson.”
“Everything okay?” Buffy walks in.
“Fanfuckingtabulous” I bend over and pick up what I have found “Giles inside?”
She nods.
I walk out and head back inside. I see Giles heading my way “Faith I need to see you for a minute.” He calls out jogging over to me.
“I was just coming to see you. I found these in the stable, I thought maybe we could use them tonight.”
He looks them over “They are a little old and the wood seems to be warping. Maybe we could break the handles of the shovels up into stakes.”
“No problem, I know we don’t have much in the way of weapons I thought whatever I could find would be good.”
“I notice your father has guns, I know bullets don’t kill vampires but they may help just to protect the ones without the slayer powers.”
“I don’t want any of you there.”
“What?” Buffy says, she and Willow come out from the stables.
“Bringing you guys was a mistake, I am putting your lives in danger. I refuse to let you guys do that for me.”
“We are doing it for Buffy not for you” Red snaps.
“Willow I don’t think that is very productive” Giles says.
I look at Willow “Thanks Red, thanks for proving my point. Don’t let the two hundred thousand dollar door hit your ass on the way out huh” I drop the shovels I was holding and run inside.
I hear Buffy calling out after me as I run but I don’t stop, I keep going and run through the house locking myself in my room.
I hear banging on my door “Faith let me in.”
I go over to my stereo and turn it on.
“Damn it Faith open the fucking door.” She keeps banging.
I turn it up as loud as it can go and throw myself onto my bed putting a pillow over my head.
I knew I couldn’t do this, I knew when I went to Sunnydale I would get myself into trouble. I knew when I began falling for Buffy I would fuck it up. She is still banging away the pounding matching the dull ache I have in my head.
“FUCK ME!” I yell getting up and opening the door.
Buffy pushes me back in and slams the door behind me, she goes over and turns the music down.
“Okay I want you to tell me what the hell that was all about Faith.”
“I think I made it pretty clear B, I am going by myself tonight.”
“It's dangerous.”
“Can't be anymore dangerous than my back up being people who don’t have any trust in me at all.”
“Well whose fault is that?”
“Obviously mine, if it wasn’t for me none of us would be here. Your life wouldn’t be fucked up you wouldn’t have your Mom telling you that she was happier when you were dating an undead 240 year old vampire. You know it is probably even my fault Giles is with your Mom.”
“Why do you do this?”
“What?”
“Only let people in a little bit.”
“Cause you don’t want to be in all the way let me tell you B.”
“That is so fucking selfish Faith, stop pushing me away.”
“It is better off this way.”
“You are scared.”
“What is there to be scared of B?”
“You are scared because this feels so right, it feels good. We are amazing together and it scares you.”
“And pray tell Dr Summers why does it scare me?” I fold my arms across my chest.
“You are scared that it will all get taken away from you.”
“Well won't it? I mean I had the perfect life before and look how that got taken off me. I was happy B and it got taken away from me.”
“Do I make you happy?”
“You know you do.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes I do.”
“Then snap the fuck out of it Faith.” She slaps me hard across the face.
I hold my cheek fuck it stung.
“I am sorry for hitting you but god you needed it.” She comes up and puts her hands on my hips “Don’t shut me out, I am here because I want to be, I am here because I love you.”
I rest my head on her shoulder “I don’t want to lose you” I cry.
“Baby you are not going to lose me.” She wraps her arms around me and runs her hands up and down my back.
“I just want him to love me” I sob.
“I know baby I know.”
She holds me and lets me cry.
Sob fest is over and we are back in business. Our plan has been worked out and we were on our way. All of us minus Joyce (who we thought would be safer at the mansion) and Tim (who was going to arrive later at the arranged time) were piled up in one of dad’s SUV’s. We were dropped off and places were taken.
Buffy was with Xander, Giles with Red and me by myself. We were circled around the drop off point all in clear view of what would go down and all in easy attacking distance.
10 minutes before Tim was due my spider sense went into over drive. An old Cadillac pulled up and 5 vamps got out.
“I want a perimeter search done, if she is in town I am sure she will have this place full of her little groupies.”
I cursed under my breath, if they found any of us we would have to fight and it would interfere with the swap. I waited silently as they did a quick search of the beaten up old tool shed that stood by one of the quarry cliffs and they checked the foliage towards the entrance of the quarry.
Search was done and they went back to the head vamp.
“These vamps are dumber than I thought” B was behind me.
“You are telling me, I thought they would sniff us out in an instant.”
“What say we jump them now and get it over and done with before Tim even gets here.”
“I think we should wait, I haven’t seen him yet.”
“There is someone in the caddy, I made a faint outline before coming over.”
“I am all for rushing in B, I am the rush in girl but until I am sure we don’t move okay.”
“Okay you are in charge.”
It was quiet for a few.
“Is it just me or does this seem way too easy” I said breaking the silence.
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“It is the ultimate jinx Faith…I mean as soon as we say hmmm this seems too easy something goes wrong and we are in deeper shit than we were to begin with.”
“She’s right slayer” came from the direction of the Caddy and all of a sudden then quarry was bathed in light from a circle of cars around the drop off point. How the fuck did we miss those!
I stood up and saw vamp after vamp get out of the cars.
I saw Xander, Giles and Red being dragged over to the caddy by a group of lackeys.
“Mother Fucker” I cursed again under my breath when I saw my dad climb out of the caddy in full vamp face.
“Oh shit” Buffy said.
“Well hello there my little pooch” he said coming over.
I folded my arms across my chest “Looks like you have built yourself another little empire.”
“These vampires are quite the business men you know. They offered me immortality and I offered them a life of luxury. No more having to hunt around in the slums for the next feed having to degrade ourselves to killing for food like Neanderthals. Now I have my own army.”
“What about Tim, what does he have to do with this?”
“Well nothing really. As far as he knows he is paying $15 Million to get me back.”
“You set this up from the beginning?”
“Your father isn’t that smart Faith” a guy I recognized from my first fight with Kakistos walked over “It was always revenge against you, when we kidnapped your father we had no idea of the mutual hate you had for each other. When your father pointed out that you probably wouldn’t come back to save him we decided that it wasn’t worth our bother and were going to eat him. Then he came up with this fabulous idea let him live and he would fund our little community. Blood when we needed it, smokes, cars, clothes even houses. Halfway through drinking him dry I realized he had a brilliant idea. Unfortunately I drank a little too much and we had to turn him. I mean how brilliant will it be to see the man who gave you life take it away, who needs greater revenge than that. You took away my father now I have taken away yours.”
“My father left 5 years ago.”
“Oh now poochie don’t be like that” he stepped up to me “Didn’t I look after you? Didn’t I give you anything and everything you wanted.”
"You think the cars and the clothes mattered. All I wanted was for you to spend time with me, showed you cared. You tried to buy me off when all I wanted was for you t-"
“That’s touching it really is.” He cut me off “But it doesn’t mean anything to me at all, didn’t when I was alive and it certainly doesn’t now.”
“You know talking like that is only going to make it easier for her to kill you” Buffy said from beside me.
“Ah Buffy I presume, my daughter’s little whore.”
I punched him in the face “Don’t you ever speak to her like that again.”
He looked back at us blood dripping from his lower lip a maniacal grin on his face “You always were a feisty one Faith much better than that drone of a son Tim. ‘Yes dad, no dad, three fucking bags full dad.’ You had the spunk, the spark, the balls to tell it like it was.”
“You know I am going to stake you don’t you.”
“Oh I don’t doubt it for a second Faith but you stake me and they have orders to kill the band of groupies. So what do you do, save the friends or kill me and watch them die?”
“I think you underestimate me father, what makes you think I can't do both?”
“The fact that you are outnumbered 5 to about 15.”
“Three vamps each sounds like a pretty easy equation to me, what about you B?”
“Doable totally doable, I mean this is like a regular night’s patrol for us.”
“See Dad” I poked him in the chest with my stake “If you knew the first fucking thing about me you would know that I would have accounted for this turn of events.”
"Faithy, fathy, faithy so far all I have seen is cocky words, some dark lipstick and a slutty outfit. I really am disappointed in you, I thought I had brought my kids up to reach for the sky, to push the limi-"
His right hand man turning to dust cuts him of mid rant.
“Thank god for that, I thought he would never shut the fuck up” Buffy said.
I smile at her and watch as arrows begin flying in and vamps begin turning to dust. Buffy runs off to the scoobs and I am left to face my father.
“Aim for the sky huh dad?” I grab him by the throat “I also remember you telling me to have a back up plan cause things never happen the way you want them to. No matter how hard you plan the smallest thing can fuck up the most even flawless of preparations…god were you British in a previous life” I smile.
“I think I still have the upper hand though, I mean years of neglect, years of me shoving you aside for business meetings and overseas trips.”
"You wanna play that card go ahead."
“You gotta have some pent up feelings about that.”
“Yeah I do feelings that make me want to stab you to a bloody pulp with a wooden stake.”
“What about that puppy you always wanted Faith…doesn’t that make you sad.”
“Not one bit.”
“If you know me you will know that I will always save the big guns till last. Remember when we used to spend summers in the backyard pretending we were on some tropical island in the Caribbean. The ocean was the water that trickled out of our rusty old sprinkler and the cocktails were red cool aid your mother made and chilled in the fridge. How happy were we back then? You and Timmy running around your mother and I sitting on the back porch, don’t you miss those days Faith? Don’t you miss the family that we were?”
“Not at all” I say pushing the stake into his chest “I have a new family now. One that I love and one that I trust, a family that stands beside me no matter what this fucked up world throws at me. They know who and what is important and they know who they are. They don’t need money or people running around after them to feel important. And now I have someone who loves me, not because I am their daughter, not because they have to but because they want to, they got to know me better than anyone ever has because they wanted to.”
“People don’t love you they use you for what they need then they move on. It is the story of your life Faith, the story of the world. You think she won't dump you as soon as the next best thing comes along.”
“Shows how much you know Russ. When it comes to your daughter she pretty much is the best thing in my life” B is back panting a little but relatively unscathed.
“You okay?” I turn to face her a little.
“5 by 5 baby” she kisses me.
“Looks like your army needed more time at boot camp daddy” I push the stake in the rest of the way and watch as he falls to dust in front of us.
Our reinforcements make their way down from the various hiding places in the quarry face. Tim and I had talked and I had to let him know it was a possibility that Dad would most probably be turned of dead. We both knew that if he was turned it was likely we would be out numbered and dead by the end of the night. Ernie and his men were more than willing to help out especially when Tim pulled out stock options and a huge fat five zero bonus to each man that was willing to help.
I wandered away from the group back over to the hummer while Tim talked business.
“Was it as easy as it looked?” B asked.
“Is it ever?”
“Well when you know them no it is never easy.”
“I didn’t hate him.”
“I know.”
“How stupid am I, I had this little scene in my head that I save him. He is still my dad just sitting in the car bound and gagged, then we win and I untie him he hugs me and tells me he loves me…I thought maybe just once I got the happy ending.”
“Nobody ever gets the happy ending in real life Fai.”
I sit for a bit by the car and she sits beside me.
"Hell of a battle," she says after a while.
“It was” I look at her “You know I think I do get the happy ending.”
She smiles at me then leans in and we kiss.
Yeah I do get the happy ending. Me, Faith the screw up the slut in black leather gets the happy ending. The Scoobs all fly safely back to Sunnydale while B and I get to drive my girl across country with a briefcase worth 15 million bucks…..but that is another story for another time.